Note 281 — Chapter I · THE EARLIEST CONSTITUTION OF ROME (continued 2)

Servius himself is credited with the introduction of aes signatum—carefully adjusted copper weights stamped by authority. Plin. H.N. xviii. 3 “Servius rex ovum boumque effigie primus aes signavit.” Mommsen (Römisches Münzwesen) thinks that the stamp was a guarantee not of the weight but of the purity of the metal. In this case the metal must have been used as a medium of exchange; as a medium of barter the weight would be sufficient. Mommsen’s opinion is (op. cit. p. 175) that a regular copper coinage was not introduced at Rome until about the period of the decemviri (450-430 B.C.), and more recent numismatists pronounce even this date to be too early.